Objective A short-term observation study of ocular surgery with or without systemic chemotherapy to treat retinoblastoma (RB). Method The clinical data of 66 RB cases treated at Beijing Tongren Hospital from August 2006 to September 2007 were retrospective reviewed.All patients received ultrasound (B scan/CDI), radiology examination (CT scan/MRI) and RetCam retina examination, and classified according to the International Intraocular Retinoblastoma Classification (IIRC) method. Focal therapies (include laser and cryotherapy) were applied to Group A, systemic chemotherapy (CCTV protocol, Cyclosporine, Carboplatin, Teneposide and Vincrinstine) plus ocular surgery (include focal therapy, enucleation and orbital exenteration) to Group B, C, D and E. Patients were followedup for more than 6 months. Result Of 66 cases (36 male/30 female), 16/66 cases were bilateral RB and 50/66 were unilateral. Follow up period was from 6 to 13 months (mean time 8.6 month). According to IIRC, there were 5 eyes in Group A, 6 eyes in Group B, 5 eyes in Group C, 15 eyes in Group D and 51 eyes in Group E( include extraocular disease). 22/82 eyes were conserved at the end of follow up, including 5/5(100%) of group A, 6/6(100%) of group B, 5/5(100%) of Group C, 4/15(26.7%) of Group D and 2/51(3.9%) of Group E. 5/66 (7.6%) patients died during this period, they all were in Group E. Conclusion Ocular surgery combined with systemic chemotherapy is an effective method to treat retinoblastoma. The consequences depends on the classification with higher conservative rate of eyeballs in early and middle stage (Group A, B, C), and lower rate in late stage (Group D and E).
Retinoblastoma (RB) is the most common intraocular malignant tumor in children. With advanced clinical technologies there are more and more methods available to treat retinoblastoma, and make it is possible to delivery individualized protocol combined traditional treatments with modern regimen to patients now. In order to improve the survival rate and the life quality of RB patients in China, it is very important to make a suitable system of standardized therapy based on results from developed countries and health policies of our own country.
Thanks to the treatment of retinoblastoma (RB) having improved significantly in recent years, there is an increasing trend to use conservative treatment modalities that aim to preserve the globe as well as vision with minimum mortality. RB therapy is a long-term systemic treatment in clinical practice. Although there are many treatment options for RB therapy, such as cryotherapy, photocoagulation, systemic chemotherapy, enucleation and ophthalmic chemotherapy, it is recommended to consider in accordance with the following key points in gaining a reasonable treatment strategies: to make sure that RB is an intraocular period; to determine whether the intraocular RB to be treated with eye preservation or enucleation; what is the case of eye preservation therapy combined with chemotherapy and how to arrange the follow-up of RB patients. It's more complicated to choice the therapeutic measures for RB in clinical practice. So, the patient's condition, economic capability and medical condition should be evaluated comprehensively. The principle of RB treatment should be followed, which is protecting eyeball and visual function without life damage.